Jim Black was a dealmaker extraordinaire during his eight years as House speaker -- hooking up political allies with more cash and prizes than Monty Hall.

Knowing that, it is not farfetched to imagine that Black looked out for a couple of his boys once he saw that the jig was up.

Think about it. If you were being ridden out of town in handcuffs, but wanted to help a couple of loyal pals, wouldn't you pull a potential successor aside and go, "Yo, dawg, look out for my posse, will ya?"

The new speaker, Joe Hackney, denied to a reporter that such a thing occurred, but the result is the same. Former Rep. Michael Wilkins, who was Black's chief of staff, and Allen Rogers, who handled state boards and commissions, both landed or retained cushy jobs.

Under Hackney, Wilkins is a senior policy adviser and Rogers kept his position. Suh-weet.

These fellows weren't just on the periphery, either. In the words of the great funk philosopher George Clinton, Rogers and Wilkins were "not just knee deep, they were totally deep" in the abuses that might send Black to prison.

As reported in The News & Observer, Rogers helped arrange a state job for former Rep. Michael Decker. That was one of the first signals that Black was looking out for the man who switched political parties in 2003 and helped Black remain in power.

Wilkins oversaw the work done by former House historian -- a term that, in this instance, it is perfectly acceptable to chuckle when you say it -- Ann Lassiter. Lassiter got the hookup from Black after being forced out of another plum job, but her incomplete, incoherent history was so lame that Black never even released it.

Hackney defended both Wilkins and Rogers on the grounds that they were simply following orders.

Oy. So now that's the primary qualification for a top post?

Rep. Paul Luebke, a Democrat, insisted that Hackney had not just a right, but pretty near an obligation to citizens, to retain the duo.

"Mike [Wilkins] knows the budget cold. In fact, he probably wrote most of it. ... You will never meet a more consummate gentleman than Allen Rogers. They're both competent, and Hackney can't afford to give up these guys just because of their former association with a discredited House speaker."

Au contraire, said Linda Daves. Daves, chairwoman of the N.C. Republican Party, told me that she was surprised by the retentions. "Given the breadth and scope of the corruption being investigated, I'd think the speaker would want to set a tone that gave not even the appearance" of an association with Black.

Whatever "just following orders" means, North Carolina would be better served by officials who won't blindly follow orders but who will call for a plunger when they see the sewer backing up.

For instance, when Wilkins got his first glimpse of Lassiter's fractured history report -- 23 ungrammatical pages produced in 20 months -- he should have tugged at Black's coat.

Wilkins: "Uh, JB. Sir Walter Raleigh wasn't the name of Opie's dog, was it? Then we have a problem."